Addressing a plenary session in the Legislative Assembly (AL), Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raymond Tam Vai Man yesterday elaborated on the local government’s plan to connect Macau’s Light Rapid Transit (LRT) with Hengqin’s future light rail system.
Tam made the remarks when replying to lawmakers’ oral interpellations during a plenary session in the local legislature’s hemicycle.
Macau’s LRT system currently comprises Taipa Line, Seac Pai Van Line, and Hengqin Line in operation. The Taipa Line serves Taipa and Cotai with its extended section connecting to the peninsula’s Barra through the lower enclosed deck of the Macau-Taipa Sai Van Bridge.
The Seac Pai Van Line connects the Taipa Line’s Cotai section with Coloane’s sprawling Seac Pai Van public housing neighbourhood, while the Hengqin Line connects the Taipa Line’s Cotai section with the Macau-side zone of the Hengqin joint checkpoint.
The Hengqin joint checkpoint’s Macau-side zone is under the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) jurisdiction.
The 106-square-kilometre Hengqin island in Zhuhai City is officially known as Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, following its inauguration in September 2021. The adjacent island is three times the size of the MSAR.
The in-depth cooperation zone’s governance consists of a management committee and an executive committee.
The management committee is the zone’s top decision-making body run under a dual director system, jointly led by the governor of Guangdong Province and the chief executive of the MSAR. The zone’s executive committee, which is run under the management committee, is the body tasked with the zone’s daily functioning and execution of tasks.
There are nine bureaux administered under the zone’s executive committee.
The zone’s Urban Planning and Construction Bureau released a draft plan in October last year for building a light rail network comprising four lines on the island, tentatively known as L1, L2, L3, L4. The four lines will have a total length of 47 kilometres.
According to the draft plan, the future Line L1 will serve the Hengqin joint checkpoint’s mainland-side zone, while the future Line L2 will serve the “financial island” located on Hengqin’s northeastern tip.
Currently, Zhuhai, including Hengqin, has neither a metro system nor a light rail system.
Currently, Hengqin is served by the Zhuhai-Zhuhai Airport Intercity Railway, which runs between Zhuhai’s Gongbei and the city’s airport.
The draft of the MSAR’s 3rd Five-Year Plan, which is currently under a public consultation process, outlines the MSAR government’s plan to connect Macau’s LRT with Hengqin’s future light rail system. The plan covers the period between 2026 and 2030.
According to the draft of the plan, the MSAR government plans to complete the connection between Macau’s LRT Hengqin Line and the Line L1 of Hengqin’s future light rail network.
Macau’s LRT Hengqin Line, consisting of two stations, runs between the Hengqin joint checkpoint’s Macau-side zone (Hengqin Station) and the Taipa Line’s Lotus Station in Cotai.
In addition, according to the draft of the MSAR’s 3rd Five-Year Plan, the Macau government will study the feasibility of extending Hengqin’s future Line L1 to the area around the now-defunct Macau Jockey Club horse-racing track in Taipa. The Macau government will also study the feasibility of linking Hengqin’s future Line L2 with Macau’s LRT Barra Station.
During yesterday’s plenary session, Tam said that the Macau government has reserved space at Macau’s LRT Hengqin Station, and Jockey Club Station on the Taipa Line, for the future connection between Macau’s LRT and Hengqin’s future light rail network.
Tam said that the Macau government aims to achieve a “seamless” connection between Macau’s LRT and Hengqin’s future light rail network, aligning with the nation’s high-speed railway development so that Macau and Hengqin can share the fruits of development achievements.
According to mainland news reports, the central government is planning to build a new high-speed railway that will serve Hengqin.
Tam said that in the long term, Macau’s LRT Barra Station will also be linked with Hengqin’s future light rail network.
Tam noted that the LRT Jockey Club Station will become an interchange hub between the current Taipa Line and the future Taipa Central Line, while the LRT Barra Station will become an interchange between the current Taipa Line, the future South Line, and the future West Line.
The Macau government consulted the public early this year on its plan to expand the city’s LRT network in the short, medium, and long terms, comprising six new lines, namely East Line Extension Line, Seac Pai Van Extension Line, South Line, West Line, Taipa North Line, and Taipa Central Line.
Tam also said yesterday that the Macau government is committed to getting the LRT South Line project off the ground as soon as possible.
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raymond Tam Vai Man addresses yesterday’s plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle. – Photo: GCS
